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FTC Pushes For Security Standards
Despite growing resentment from companies and powerful industry groups, the Federal Trade Commission continues to insist that it wants to be the nation’s enforcer of data security standards.
The FTC, over the past years, has gone after companies that have suffered data breaches, citing the authority granted to it under a section of the FTC Act that prohibits “unfair” and “deceptive” trade practices. The FTC extracted stiff penalties from some companies by arguing that their failure to properly protect customer data represented an unfair and deceptive trade practice.
On Thursday, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez called for legislation that would bestow the agency with more formal authority to go after breached entities.
“I’d like to see FTC be the enforcer,” Law360 quoted Ramirez as saying at a privacy event organized by the National Consumers League in Washington. “If you have FTC enforcement along with state concurrent jurisdiction to enforce, I think that would be an absolute benefit, and I think it’s something we’ve continued to push for.”
According to Ramirez, the FTC supports a federal data-breach notification law that would also give it the authority to penalize companies for data breaches. In separate comments at the same event, FTC counsel Betsy Broder reportedly noted that the FTC’s enforcement actions stem from the continuing failure of some companies to adequately protect data in their custody.
“FTC keeps bringing data security cases because companies keep neglecting to employ the most reasonable off-the-shelf, commonly available security measures for their systems,” Law360 quoted Broder as saying.
An FTC spokeswoman was unable to immediately confirm the comments made by Ramirez and Broder but said the sentiments expressed in the Law360 story accurately describe the FTC’s position on enforcement authority.
The comments by the senior officials come amid heightening protests against what some see as the FTC overstepping its authority by going after companies that have suffered data breaches.
Over the past several years, the agency has filed complaints against dozens of companies and extracted costly settlements from many of them for data breaches. In 2006 for instance, the FTC imposed a $10 million fine on data aggregator ChoicePoint, and more recently, online gaming company RockYou paid the agency $250,000 to settle data breach related charges.
FTC Defends Google Decision
January 25, 2013 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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The FTC defended its decision to let Google carry on with its anti-trust-like antics, while other regulations in civilized nations are planning to put the boot in.
The US Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Google which really did little to stop the company using its dominance to push down search results from its competitors. The move attracted considerable criticism because it followed a letter from US senators to go easy on the search engine because it was good for US jobs. We guess they mean the jobs of US senators who Google paid campaign contributions.
Google promised to change the ways it presents some search results and runs search advertising, but was exonerated of the results bias claims. Rivals including Yelp and Microsoft claimed that Google had favored its own product results over those of its competitors and called for the anti-trust case. What makes the case look more suspect is that the EU is less frightened of actually fining Google or forcing it to behave. Indeed indications from Brussels are that it has not only agreed with the rival’s complaints but will do something about it if Google does not pull finger.
But FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz told Talking Points Memo that the agency’s decision was legally sound and would be beneficial to competition and consumers. Under facts we found, all five of us, from liberal Democrat to conservative Republican, agreed that the evidence militated against an anti-trust case,” Leibowitz told TPM.
The fact that we managed to have both Google and Google’s rivals unhappy, in an odd way that’s maybe unique to Washington, that puts us in the right place substantively, he claimed. When asked if Google’s $25 million lobbying budget for the duration FTC’s investigation helped, he said that lobbying makes the companies feel good and lobbyists feel good.
“At the end of the day, whether you want to say lobbying had any influence, or cancelled itself out because there was lobbying on both sides, if you’re going to do what lobbyists want you to do in a regulatory agency, you’re not doing your job.”
Google+ Is A No Go In China
The United States biggest creditor (China) has taken steps to stop Google+ right after it was debuted to the world yesterday. While some people may claim it is all part of a communist plot to crack down on dissent; this time it may not be the case this go round.
For those of you, who are late to the game, be advised that Google+ is the firm that tried to introduce social networking to China. Again social networking is thought to be a threat for oppressive governments because it allows its populations to share information and gossip. Therefore, it would seem apparent that the Chinese might be a little cautious about allowing a social networking environment in the country.
That said, it was revealed by Microsoft that cloud based operations in other countries, which are run by American companies fall under the jurisdiction of the US Patriot Act. Therefore, we (US) could technically spy on anyone in China with the proper paperwork such as a court order and the company is required is to hand over information.
FTC Singles Out Google’s Chrome
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Liebowitz this week singled out Google for not adopting “Do Not Track,” the privacy feature that allows consumers the ability to opt out of online tracking by Web sites and marketing entities.
In an interview Monday with Politico, Liebowitz called out Google for not supporting Do Not Track in its Chrome browser.
Noting that Do Not Track had gathered momentum, Liebowitz said, “Apple just announced they’re going to put it in their Safari browser. So that gives you Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla. Really the only holdout — the only company that hasn’t evolved as much as we would like on this — is Google.”
Do Not Track has been promoted by the FTC and by privacy advocates including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), as the best way to help consumers protect their privacy.
The technology requires sites and advertisers to recognize incoming requests from browsers as an opt-out demand by the user. The information is transmitted as part of the HTTP header.
As Liebowitz said, Microsoft and Mozilla have added Do Not Track header support to their Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) and Firefox 4 browsers. While Apple hasn’t confirmed that the next version of Safari will include Do Not Track, developers have reported finding the feature in early editions bundled with Mac OS X 10.7, aka “Lion,” the upgrade slated to ship this summer.